{"id":11903,"date":"2020-05-21T03:26:36","date_gmt":"2020-05-21T10:26:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nebulous-oyster.flywheelsites.com\/?p=11903"},"modified":"2022-09-19T14:14:40","modified_gmt":"2022-09-19T21:14:40","slug":"a-doctors-view-medical-misinformation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jennifermargulis.net\/a-doctors-view-medical-misinformation\/","title":{"rendered":"A Doctor’s Clear-Eyed View of Medical Misinformation"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Dr.What constitutes medical misinformation? What’s the difference between something that falls outside the status quo and something that is actually false? Nothing like a global pandemic<\/a> to make the answers to these questions feel urgent. Cammy Benton, M.D., an integrative medical doctor with over fifteen years of clinical experience, weighs in.\u00a0<\/strong><\/h4>\n

What a Duke University “Science” Survey Reveals About Medical Misinformation<\/strong><\/h3>\n

By Cammy Benton, M.D.<\/span>
\n<\/span>Special to <\/span>JenniferMargulis.net<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I happen to love taking surveys. Not sure why as I\u2019m a busy person. I\u2019m a medical doctor. I own my own integrative practice<\/a>. And I have three young children. But, like I said, I love surveys. So I was intrigued to receive a \u201cVoluntary Survey on Medical Misinformation\u201d from Duke University, which was sent to all North Carolina doctors. <\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>I started working on it right away. It seemed harmless enough. At first. Until a list of topics of \u201cmisinformation\u201d stopped me dead in my tracks. <\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>I closed the computer. I no longer felt safe completing this \u201canonymous\u201d survey since it was connected to my email, which the researchers undoubtedly accessed through our state licensing board. Apparently the study Duke is doing was approved by the Duke Health Institutional Review Board (an administrative body that protects the rights and welfare of human research subjects recruited to participate in research activities)\u00a0and they are eager to get responses in this \u201ccrucial moment.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

What constitutes medical misinformation?<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

The survey asks how often a patient brings in \u201cmedical misinformation\u201d into the clinic. And there\u2019s the first of many rubs. What constitutes medical misinformation? Who decides the difference between \u201cmisinformation” and \u201calternative\u201d information? What is \u201cmedical misinformation\u201d anyway? Might it actually be \u201cinformation a conventionally trained doctor isn\u2019t aware of\u201d?\u00a0 <\/span>
\n\"A<\/span>The word \u201cdoctor\u201d comes from the Latin word \u201cdocere,\u201d which means to teach. If our mission is to teach and to heal<\/a>, shouldn\u2019t we be eager for our patients to bring us their questions, ideas, comments, and concerns? Why are doctors being trained to resent patients bringing us information? Why would we label this \u201cmisinformation\u201d instead of just seeing it as questions? <\/span><\/p>\n

When a patient brings me alternative information it\u2019s an opportunity: An opportunity for dialogue and a mutual exchange of ideas.<\/strong> I use this as an opportunity to teach my patients. And, as much as I hope I can teach them, I am eager to learn from them too.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Duke survey offers a list of options to choose how often we hear about medical misinformation:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Never<\/span>
\n<\/span>Rarely<\/span>
\n<\/span>Sometimes<\/span>
\n<\/span>Often<\/span><\/p>\n

(They didn\u2019t even give the discerning doctor the answer choice of \u201cthis is BS.\u201d But no matter. It all still sounds fine until you see the choices\u2026)<\/span><\/p>\n

So what do these Duke University researchers consider medical misinformation?<\/b><\/h3>\n

1. \u201cVaccines cause harm.\u201d<\/b><\/h4>\n

Listing the idea that vaccines can cause harm as medical misinformation suggests that these researchers at Duke University are unaware of the <\/span>vaccine injury compensation data<\/span><\/a>. They must not know that <\/span>$4.3 BILLION dollars <\/b>have been paid out for vaccine injury to date to Americans who’ve been harmed by vaccines. Access the government\u2019s <\/span>data report PDF<\/span><\/a> for more information. (I recommend you save a copy to your desktop).<\/span><\/p>\n

We know that the actual number of vaccine injuries is sadly much higher than the injuries families, after years of waiting, are compensated for. These are not coincidental events. Yet many conventionally trained medical doctors are either unaware of VAERS or are falsely being told that these serious adverse reactions to vaccines\u2014including death\u2014are coincidence. After all, this is a \u201cno fault\u201d court. But I can tell you, both from nearly two decades of clinical experience and from personal experience that the current over-bloated CDC-approved vaccine schedule does cause harm<\/a>. <\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n